A true gentleman of the regency did not ‘work’ for his living. So how did he come by his income?

The Gentlemen of the Regency

Who were the ‘gentlemen’ of the Regence era gentry class? Basically the term encompasses those with the title of baronet, knight, landed squires and the gentlemen. In 1803, this included less than 27,000 families, less than 1.5% of the British population.

Even the titled gentry were considered commoners, not peers. Despite some of them being more wealthy that some titled peers, they did not enjoy the the rights and provledges afforded to peers. Even so, many gentry families enjoyed great respect from their long histories with their family estates.

The longest established gentry families often had preeminence in their neighborhoods, especially when there were no peers living nearby. These landowners could serve as Justice of the Peace (a local magistrate who could decide minor, local matters of the law) or seek election as Member of Parliment. Both these roles, during the Regency era, were unpaid, so a man had to be able to afford to engage in such volunteer activity.

A Gentlemen’s Income

Technically gentlemen did not work a trade to obtain a salary. That was their primary distinction from the classes below them. That being said, it was necessary for gentemen to obtain money to live. How it was done it differed, depending on whether he inherited family estate, owned land, or he was a younger son, forced to make his own way in the world.

Land

For a gentleman with land, that asset became his primary source of income. The primary part of that income would come from rental income. Large estates would be parceled out in to smaller farms. One of those, the Home Farm would be worked by hired men and provide produce for the estate itself. The rest would be rented out to respectable farmers who would work the land and keep the profits of their labor. Farm leases were often of long duration, with sons taking over the farms for their fathers. Farm leases would frequently include the farm cottage where the farmer and his family would live.

In addition to farms, land owners often owned cottages and houses on their property which would provide another source of rental income. The small villages that often grew up around estates often included such properties.

Agricultural Products

Gentlemen could also obtain income from the agricultural products of their land. Crops might be sold for a profit. Sheep and other animals and their products could provide another income stream. Wood and mineral resources offered yet another possible source of revenue.

In these cases, the gentleman would mange the enterprise while hiring others to do the actual labor. On large estates, a steward might be brought in to handle the management of these enterprises, leaving the gentleman free to pursue other interests.

Annuities

Some gentlemen enjoy passive income from annuities. An annuity is a fixed some of money paid to someone yearly, usually for the rest of their lives. Typically this would involve a lump sum of money, invested in some interest bearing account.

Annuities were typically inherited from relatives. A woman’s marriage articles might specify the way her dowery might be used to fund annuities for their children.

Marriage articles might also specify gifts of annuities from parents to children upon their marriage which would provide a lifetime source of income for the new family.

Investments

When a gentleman came by a lump sum of money, her might choose to invest the amount and draw an income from that investment. In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet wonders who might marry her for but  £50 a year. That  £50 a year would be the amount that her 1000 pound dowery would earn if invested in government interest bearing funds.

How much income did a land owning gentleman have?

The size of a gentleman’s income related directly to the sort of land he might own, the rental properties on that land, his skill at managing the land, and if there were any other income sources available.

Some sources suggest  £2000 pounds as the entry point to be considered part of the gentry. Others suggest as little as the income off 300 acres would permit one to be considered a part of the gentry. (With the requisite connections and social graces, of course.)

In the next several installments of this series, we will consider the incomes of younger sons, ladies,the working class, and proposed budgets as several different income levels to try to get a handle on how life on a limited income would have looked in Jane Austen’s day.

Is this what you expected for a gentleman?